Saturday, January 06, 2007

I re-watched Revenge of the Sith this morning. It provides fewer thrills than it did when I first saw it in the theatre, but the flick is still pretty good. Ewen McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi holds the movie together. The sense of regret he projects towards the whole Clone Wars and towards Anakin at the end...it really is quite moving. When Kenobi tells Skywalker that "I failed you, Anakin. I failed you." I believe him. It's not wooden like other aspects of the new trilogy. When Kenobi tells Skywalker not to attack one last time and then Anakin does, and loses three limbs in one shot and Kenobi yells that Anakin was supposed to be the chosen one...it works. Forget the hokeyness of the Anakin / Padme love story, the Kenobi / Skywalker relationship works and right then we know why Obi-Wan lives alone on Tattoine. It's in part to look after look, but also because of the pure regret of failing Anakin Skywalker somehow.